Three Things This Holiday Season…

Happy holidays to everyone out there! The snow is coming down in Portland on Christmas Eve, my husband was let off work early, just as I was visiting him to deliver homemade espresso truffles to he and his team, I took him on my annual grocery store ‘goodwill’ mission, passing out gift cards at Safeway to people with lots of stuff in their carts, and then coming home to give the duckies a big bowl of chopped mustard greens while making a gorgeous vat of Cassoulet for our dinner tonight…and with that, I am grateful for this winter season that allows us to slow down, breathe, and look back while preparing for the coming year…

EPSON MFP image

EPSON MFP image

EPSON MFP image

Memories of Christmas past…

First, I have to share one of my very favorite holiday songs of all time, The Eurythmics’ version of Winter Wonderland. Those who lived back in the day like I did might remember the album A Very Special Christmas that had this, U2’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Whitney Houston’s Do You Hear What I Hear?, and Madonna’s Santa Baby, but this one is my very very favorite, particularly when cooking over the holiday season.

Why Christmas is for everyone is perfectly summed up in this Guardian article that landed in my inbox this morning: “The fact that hundreds of years ago our pagan midwinter festival was refashioned and renamed after Jesus does not give Christianity ownership of it in perpetuity…Our belief is that the natural world is all that there is. Only by fully accepting this fact can we live good lives that are true to our nature. The marking of midwinter brings these truths home. It reminds us that the cycle of life and death turned for aeons before we were born and will continue its rotations for aeons after. It exemplifies the legitimate hope that darkness can be followed by light but not the false hope that we can ultimately escape the fate of all living things...By remembering we’re all just trying to work out how to live good lives in the harshness of a sometimes cruel and perplexing world, we can share the Yuletide hope for peace on earth and goodwill to all.”

And, from Yes Magazine’s current issue, a wonderful infographic on the ways” giving makes you happier – and we’re not talking about the stuff under the tree…So this season and into the new year, whether it be in time or money, please PAY IT FORWARD…